Teacher, student locked in electoral tussle in Jorhat

Former Union Minister and Congress Candidate for the Jorhat Lok Sabha Constituency Bijoy Krishna Handique shows his mark after casting his vote in Jorhat district of Assam on Monday. (PTI)

In a rare case of a student locking horns with his mentor, BJP’s Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is engaged in a poll tussle with Jorhat’s six time
sitting Congress MP octogenarian Bijoy Krishna Handique.

Polls in Jorhat lok sabha constituency in Upper Assam were held on Sunday where Handique was making bid to enter the Parliament for the seventh consecutive term.

Handique was the Prinipal-in-charge and Secretary of the educational trust which managed the Hemlata Handique Memorial Institute (HHMI), set up in his mother’s memory by his father, eminent Sanskrit scholar Krishna Kanta Handique.

Tasa studied at HHMI from nursery to Class VIII and then shifted to Dibrugarh over family issues.

Handique’s residence is in Jail Road, Jorhat town under ward no 10 while Tasa hails from Goromur Duliagaon village of the same district.

Handique, asked about his student turned rival, said, “he is a product of our school and I wish him all success in life. There is no jealousy in me, people will decide the fate of candidates and even at the age of 82, I always think positive.”

Tasa, on the other hand, said he was still a ‘follower of his Guru’.

“I have learnt a lot from Handique sir. He taught us Shakespeare’s Mid Summer Nights Dream. I can never leave the path shown by Sir,” he said.